posted at 4:41 pm on April 23, 2013 by Allahpundit

Not just once, either. Repeatedly. That makes not one but two close U.S. allies whispering that Assad’s gone and done the thing that the leader of the free world said he Must Not Do.

It’s intervention time.

Israel’s senior military intelligence analyst said Tuesday there was evidence the Syrian government had repeatedly used chemical weapons in the last month, and he criticized the international community for failing to respond, intensifying pressure on the Obama administration to intervene.

“The regime has increasingly used chemical weapons,” said Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, research commander in the intelligence directorate of the Israeli Defense Forces, echoing assertions made by Britain and France. “The very fact that they have used chemical weapons without any appropriate reaction,” he added, “is a very worrying development, because it might signal that this is legitimate.”…

The Syrian attacks killed “a couple of dozens,” the military official said, in what Israel judged as “a test” by President Bashar al-Assad of the international community’s response. He said the government had deployed chemicals a handful of times since, but that details of those attacks were sketchier.

“Their fear of using it is much lower than before using it,” the official said. “If somebody would take any reaction, maybe it would deter them from using it again.”

Netanyahu allegedly told John Kerry he couldn’t confirm the claim (which is odd, if Israeli military personnel are talking publicly about it), but the IDF’s intelligence arm thinks the weapon of choice was sarin based in part on photos of the victims foaming at the mouth with shrunken pupils. How they can be confident about that, though, I’m not sure: This Times piece is a nice quick tour of the difficulties of confirming that chemical WMD were used if you don’t have access to the scene or the victims and there aren’t lots and lots of bodies to prove that something unusual occurred. British intelligence allegedly got hold of a soil sample from the site of one attack that was smuggled out of the country, but how do you trust the provenance? Could be the rebels cooked up the sample somehow to try to engineer western intervention, or maybe they overran one of Assad’s chemical facilities and scraped it off there. (On the other hand, check out this photo of dead animals, all apparently killed bloodlessly near the site of one attack.) It’s surreal that U.S. entry into the war may hinge on sarin attacks that have killed “dozens” when conventional warfare killed more than 500 Syrians in one Damascus suburb over the past week alone, but there you go. That’s the “red line” calculus at work, to maintain the WMD taboo for other bad actors.

Chuck Hagel dropped a big hint last week that the White House might be preparing for action. Here’s another little nudge from Kerry:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged NATO to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria and called for alliance members to boost their assistance to the Syrian opposition.

Attending his first meeting of the alliance’s governing body, the North Atlantic Council, as America’s top diplomat, Kerry said contingency plans should be put in place to guard against the threat of a chemical weapons strike. NATO ally Turkey borders Syria and would be most at-risk from such an attack. NATO has already deployed Patriot missile batteries in Turkey.

“Planning regarding Syria, such as what (NATO) has already done, is an appropriate undertaking for the alliance,” Kerry told NATO foreign ministers. “We should also carefully and collectively consider how NATO is prepared to respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat.”

I’m interested in the gamesmanship here by having a top Israeli military intel official go public with this while Obama’s trying to decide what to do or whether to acknowledge that a chemical attack happened at all. Is that Netanyahu playing an angle, formally denying any knowledge himself while getting the IDF to twist O’s arm by announcing this publicly? Or is this being done in concert with the White House, with O encouraging the Israelis to release the info as a test of U.S. public opinion? If there’s a big Do Something outcry, then he may have to act; if not (and there won’t be), then he can keep looking the other way for awhile. The problem with that theory, though, is that it assumes the public won’t blame the White House later if O refuses to act now and then there’s a mass-casualty attack in Syria involving sarin or something similarly foul. Just yesterday, Hagel insisted that WMD use in Syria would be a “game changer” (Obama has used those words himself), but what kind of game is being played here?

Hooo booooy, Barky, bet you wish you hadn’t said those words huh? See that’s the problem with acting and talking all tough, you better be prepared for someone eventually calling you out to prove it. Dog Eater isn’t prepared, not at all.

Hooo booooy, Barky, bet you wish you hadn’t said those words huh? See that’s the problem with acting and talking all tough, you better be prepared for someone eventually calling you out to prove it. Dog Eater isn’t prepared, not at all.

Bishop on April 23, 2013 at 4:46 PM

Obama’s own narcissism precludes him from watching his mouth. Future ramifications of their own words are never a consideration.

Easy out: “We have no evidence of our own, so we’re not going to jump to conclusions.” And the lapdog media will praise him for his ‘cool head’ and ‘thoughtfulness.”

Going in to Syria could be a golden opportunity to win hearts and minds among the freedom fighters. The American soldiers will be fighting shoulder to shoulder with Al-Q, Chechens, Ben Gazzara dudes from Libya and Muslims of many nations. Everywhere you turn there will be a chance to reach out earnestly as long as you don’t expect a reach-a-round in return.

Operation TarBaby VI baby, get your kefeya dry cleaned and ready for action. And for those about to die, small price to be of service to Islam and the Saudis isn’t it?

Hooo booooy, Barky, bet you wish you hadn’t said those words huh? See that’s the problem with acting and talking all tough, you better be prepared for someone eventually calling you out to prove it. Dog Eater isn’t prepared, not at all.

Bishop on April 23, 2013 at 4:46 PM

You didn’t notice the date stamp on that tough talk, I guess. On the other hand,if you don’t buy that, President Sibilant Esses didn’t really say what you think he said. It was much more nuanced than what you’re capable of understanding. Or, alternatively, his position has evolved to a more noble view.

Now, now. Obama needs time to consider this new information, assess the ramifications, model out the consequences of various responses, consider all this with an eye to US and international law and our overall interests. In brief, he needs time to consider and deliberate and a decision shouldn’t be rushed. We must not let passions get the better of us, either, so a cooling off period is understandable. This could take a long time.

We ought to learn from this very wise man. In fact we should emulate it by applying it to the immigration reform bill now before us, too.

… he will send in brave troops, without bullets or weapons, and when they come under attack and try to defend themselves, he will order any help to ‘stand down’, will go to sleep, then fly off to a fund raiser.

In a sane world, USA would not be aiding and arming and financing the jihadies in Syria against Assad.
In a sane world, Israel would be encouraged to take care of threats to it’s people .
In a sane world .

How come there is never anything positive on this blog? Every single post is meant to get the fringe right angry and b!tchy. Glad im not on your team.

HotAirLib on April 23, 2013 at 5:15 PM

The place would be a lot more peaceful without you libs invading the place with your endless invective. Not a one of YOU, for a week after Sandy Hook, ever once grieved with us. Instead, you liberals went off against us, calling ‘crocodile tears’, and bragging about how you were finally going to get our guns.

Yeah — you liberals are all kinds of happy!

I have seen you people argue about the palate-cleansers. You liberals are the ones who find fault with everything, ARGUE no matter the thread and no matter the subject.

Hey! how about this…?

How about the next time you invade, start off with, “Hi, everybody!” Just that for your first post, and nothing more.

In a sane world, USA would not be aiding and arming and financing the jihadies in Syria against Assad.
In a sane world, Israel would be encouraged to take care of threats to it’s people .
In a sane world .

Interesting liam
They’ll sit in on the bombers…. gotta defend the young kid

cmsinaz on April 23, 2013 at 5:33 PM

If liberals got their wish, that all Conservatives just vanish, they’ll end up arguing with each other. That mindset was cause of the rift between Red China and Stalin that lasted years. Mao called the Soviets the worst thing you could call a Communist or a liberal: “Revisionist”.

The same with the Sunnis and that other big Moslem group. If they got what they wanted, Islam still wouldn’t have peace until one side or the other is wiped out. Then would come the hunt for ‘heretics’ that would go on forever.

Man always calls for peace. But it is not in his nature to bring it about for eternity.

So are we. Your team lost the vote of college graduates in 2012, and so was forced to greatly increase its share of the high school dropout vote from an already record 70% to 80% or more just to win the game.

Words. That’s all the poseur in chief is full of, empty threats, empty promises, empty rhetoric, empty actions, empty results. They call it “commander” in chief for a reason. He doesn’t take command of anything.

The REB will create a strike-force of bureaucrats from the EPA to parachute into Syria and find out why these dangerous chemicals were spilled onto the ground, and recommend a United Nations Superfund program to manage the cleanup.